Firstly you should post your own attempt. It is not allowed that any one stroll in and request a free translation service unless you be genuinely learning, in which case you will have at least managed a try.

I do not have any wish at this point in my life to begin learning latin, however i was hoping that i had asked a simple enough question on a friendly, helpful and reliable website to be given a simple enough answer. It has came to my attention that you do not wish to be of help the one of situation that i find myself.
Thankyou to threeworld14 for your kindness in attempting to translate the quote in question, and thankyou to Episcopus for being of no help whatsoever and for being a rude and ignorant young person.

Not sure if the form gigantium is attested. In humeris sounds a little odd to me as well, but it is literal.

There is no forum policy regarding giving translations, but many people have come in here before, both who know and do not know Latin and received prompt answers. While it may not seem to have anything to do with learning, free attempts at translation are an excellent practice for those who know Latin and they have been a part of the forum for as long as I have been here.

Last edited by benissimus on Thu May 06, 2004 5:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.

After I read this thread, it occurred to me that the original quote "...on the shoulders of giants" might have been in Latin, but it looks like it really was English.

The following background (From An Underground Education by Richard Zacks, p.37) might assist any translators of this quote:

"If I have seen farther than others, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants."

"Pundits use this quote as the ultimate expression of humility in genius, but what they miss (and almost everyone else does too) is that Newton wrote that line to a very, very, short man, a hunchbacked fellow scientist with whom he was having a bitter feud.

"Newton (1642-1727) was furious that Robert Hooke (1635-1703) was staking claim to many key discoveries in optics and calculus. (Hooke did in fact build the first reflecting telescope). [...]

"Newton wrote a long letter to Hooke on February 5, 1675, defending himself from charges of intellectual piracy, praising Hooke for trifles, and then Newton built to the famous `standing on the shoulders of giants' line. (Newton, by the way, adapted it from a line about pygmies in a then-famous book called Anatomy of Melancholy.)

"You might translate Newton's sentiments: `While I admit to building on the work of my scientific predecessors, I certainly didn't learn anything from a dwarf like you.'"